Animated display device



Jul 'zs, 1925.

- 4 1,547,899 E. F. CHESTER ET AL ANIMATED DISPLAY DEVICE Filed QGt. 6, 1922 We, 7? mask) )1 TTORNEES Patented July 28, 1925;.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFricE.

ERNEST F. CHESTER AND CHARLES 1?, CHESTER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ANIMATED DISPLAY DEV ICE.

Application filed October 6, 1922.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, ERNEST F. OHEs'rER and CHARLES P. CHESTER, both citizens of the United States, and residents of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Animated Display Device, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Our invention is more particularly concerned in the production of an animated display device for use with amusement and advertising appliances. Y

The present invention has for its object to produce an animated figure in-which the legs are designed to be moved with relation to the body insuch manner as to simulate the natural movements' of the legs of an animal or humanbeing. A person in walking, at certain points has both legs fully extended in substantially straight'lines diverging from the body towards the ground, one being in advance of the other. Starting at this point, that leg which extends rearwardly is lifted by bending at the knee, and While bent it is moved forward to an advanced position, when it is straightened and lowered and the foot placed upon the ground, the other leg remaining substantially straight and rigid. ments there is a certain pivotal action of the foot with relation to the lower leg at theankle portion, but the main action of the legs in walking depends upon the flexing of the leg at the knee joint in raising and lowering, itbeing flexed or bent while raising, and straightened while being lowered. The same is true of the action of the legs of a horse or other quadruped animal; the legs are flexed at the joint while being raised from the ground, advanced in a flexed position and dropped, gradually straighteningas they are dro ped. It is for the purpose of simulating the leg action, thus creating the impression of walking or running, that we have produced the present invention.

In its simplest form, the invention may be said to consist of a body; portion mounted upon a support, to which are-pivotally connected the leg members, each of which will be articulated or provided with a pivotal joint representing the knee oint. The lower extremities of these articulated members are engaged by means which advance and retract the members, so arranged that the forward movement Wlll take place along lines closer Of course during these move' Serial No. 592,822.

to the body than the distance represented by the length of the articulated members when extended, and which at the extreme of the advance and retracting movements travel below such a line, and at a distance from the body greater than the length of the pivotal members when extended, the arrangement being such that the, operating device will with an articulated member pivoted thereto,

having a joint permitting flexure in one direction only, with means engaging the lower end of the articulated member having advancing and retracting movements in two planes, the distance between the upper plane of movement and the pivotal connection of the articulated member with the body being less than the length of the articulated memher, and the distance between the pivotal connection and the lower plane of movement being greater than the length of the articulated member.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a figure embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view taken along the line 2-2 in Fig. 1 looking. in the directionof the arrows.

3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a detail. we Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view throng the figure showing one form of support.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatical sideelevation ment. l

. Fig. 6 .is a view similar to, ingthev figurev and mechanism mounted for bodily movement. V f

Fig. 7 shows a modified form of mecha-. nism for moving the parts. I

Similar. reference characters will be emplo-yedthroughout (the specification and but showdrawing to designate corresponding parts.

In the drawing, 10 indicates the body of a I figuresuch as a horse. Pivotallyconhected to thebody 10 by pivots 11 are the articushowing the various stages of the limb moveA lated members 12 and 13 representing the hind legs, and the members 15 and 16 representing the fore legs, the members 12 and 13 being pivotally connected as at 131, and the members 15 and 16 being pivotally connected as at 17. By this arrangement the articulated members are permitted a swinging movement backward and forward with relation to the body 10, and the members constituting the fore legs are further permitted a flexing movement so as to bend the members to shorten and extend them, simulating the bending of the leg as in walking or running. This flexing of the members to be flexed is intended to be in one direction only and for this purpose the hinged connection will be formed as shown in Fig. 3, which represents one of the joints of one of the forward legs, and in which a shoulder 18 formed on the member 15 engages a projecting stop 181 formed on the member 16 beyond the pivot 17, the arrangement being such that the articulated members can bend in one direction only, and when extended the shoulder 18 and the stop 181 will contact with each other.

The body 10 is supported as by bracket 100 which, as shown in Fig. 1, consists of a standard fixed in the base 101 extending upwardly and thence horizontally through an opening 102 in a background 103. Upon the base 101 is mounted a standard 101 which supports a shaft 101 upon Which is mounted a pair of disks 22 and a pulley 220. Pivot-ally connected to the disks 22 at 221 area pair of levers 23, the levers being slotted as shown at 2 1 and engaging a rod 25 supported in vertical standards 260. The levers 23 at their forward ends carry bearings which receive rods 27, which rods are arranged to freely slide in the bearings carried by the levers. These rods 27 are pivotally connected at 2.70 to the lower ends of the member 16. Each of the rods 27 carries a stop 271 which maybe positioned and fixedly held -to the rods 27 in any suitable manner. The articulated members constituting the hind legs, are each connected to rods at one end as shown at 301, and at their opposite ends they are connected one to each. of the levers 23 as at 302. The above arrangement is such that the disks 22 being rotated, the levers 23 will be alternately reciprocated, producing alternate forward and backward movements ofthe appropriate pairs of arti'culated m nibers; preferably one member of each of the forward and rearward articulated members will be operated in unison in one direction, and the other pair simultaneously operated in the reverse direction; At the same'time that the levers 23 are reciprocated they will'be rocked about the rod 25 causing an up and down movement to be im' arted to the forward ends, which'prothe members 15 and 16 will be extended or straightened by reason of the levers moving away from the stops. The device will be so adjusted that the articulated members will be moved backward in extended position and will be moved. forward while flexed, all as has been hereinbefore pointed out.

A. suitable motor 29 which may be ordinary electric motor, by means of a belt 290 engaging the pulley 220 imparts motion to the articulated members through the levers 23. i

As the device is shown in Fig. 1 the animated figure has no progressive forward movement, but in Fig. 6 means are shown whereby the figure. may be advanced while the articulated members are moved. For this purpose it is mounted upon a carriage 32 supportedby trucks. or wheels 320, and

by means of a fiexibleconnection321 actuated by the motor 3d, the carriage 32 is drawn forward. Suitable gearing 33' engaging a rack 31, revolves the disks 22, ac-

tuating the levers 23 and the articulated members of the body 10. In this form of the invention the background 103 is provided with a slot 102 whereby the support may move with. the body 10 with relation to the background 103.

It is of course understood that the figure may represent a human figure, and in Fig. 5 is shown diagrammatically, articulated members 19 and 20 pivoted together at 21 illustrating a human leg. In dotted lines is shown the operation of the levers and rods 27 together with the stops 28, the letters 00, y, 2, indicating in dotted lines the various positions assumed by "the parts as the articulated members are moved backwardly and forwardly.

In Fig. 7 is shown a modified form of mechanism for producing the movement of the articulated members. In this form a belt or sprocket chain 35 is mounted upon socket wheels 36, and may be driven in ewhat higher plane; The sprocket 5 oarry pivot ly mounted bearings 8 to receive the rods 27 connected to the articulated members, and the rods 27will be provided with stops as inntheothe'r fig ures. In this form there will preferably be two parallelchains, each of which will carry (.1 suitable manner. The belt or sprocket ch Y I iasses over; an ldle pulley 37 ally disposed [11th relation to wheels 36 with the periphery in r ducesa bending or flexure of the articua bearing 38 which engage the rods 27 of Ell) pair of articulated members. As the bearings 38 move with the sprocket chains 35 they will cause a backward and forward movement to be imparted to the articulated members, and in the advance movement from the right hand sprocket wheel 36 to the left hand sprocket wheel 36, as shown in Fig. 7, the pulleys 37 and the engaging bearings 38 and stops 28 will gradually raise the articulated member's, causing them to be gradually flexed during the upward movement until the bearings 38 pass the idle wheels 37, at which point the maximum lexurewill occur, and from this point forward the bearing 38 gradually dropping, permits the rod 27 to drop, thus extending or straightening the articulated member.

In the operation of the device, assuming that there are at least two articulated members, they will be alternately retracted and advanced, and during the advance movement they will be gradually flexed to shorten them and gradually extended to lengthen them, and returned to the starting point in an extended position, thus simulating the movement of the legs in walking.

We claim: r

1. In an animated display device, in com bination, a body shaped like that of a living creature and equipped with a pivotally pendant leg including a plurality of pivotally connected leg portions, means for alternately swinging the foot of the leg through a path in the direction in which the figure is facing and swinging such foot through a path in the opposite direction and for angularly disposing said leg-portions during swinging of the leg in the first-mentioned direction, said means including a rod pivotally pendant from the lower end of the the lower end thereof, a revoluble member carrying an eccentric pivotal mount, a lever having one end engaging said mount and its other end provided with an opening loosely engaging the portion of said rod below said stop, a fulcrum support for said lever intermediate said mount and rod, and a pinand-slot connection between said lever and support.

2. In an animated display device, in combination, a body shaped like that of a living creature and equipped with a pivotally pendant leg including .a plurality of pivotally connected leg portions, means for alternately swinging the foot of the leg through a path in the direction in'which the figure is facing and swinging such foot through a path in the opposite direction and for angularly disposing said leg-portions during swinging of the leg in the vfirst-mentioned direction, said means including a rod pivotally pendant from the lower end of the lower leg-portion, a stop on said rod near the lower end thereof, a revoluble member carrying an eccentric pivotal mount, a lever having one end engaging said mount and its other end provided with an opening loosely engaging the portion of said rod below said stop, a fulcrum support for said lever intermediate said mount and rod, and a pin-andslot connection between said lever and support, said connection being so much nearer said rod than said mount that during each revolution of said member the rod-engag ng end of sa1d lever is moved up and down through a considerably less distance than it is moved forward and backward.

ERNEST F. CHESTER. CHARLES P. CHESTER. 

